Monthly Archives: October 2020

Company News

10.28.20 Without our partners… we would struggle to deliver

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The blog title is more than a title… it is a sincere statement. Without our partners, we wouldn\’t be able to deliver the best fishing experiences.

This is not lost on us… we know that we can\’t move a mountain without a team. And our team has grown since the early days of Fish Village and I wanted to take a moment to introduce them to you and say thank you for their support.

NRS

NRS has been supporting Fish Village for the last couple of years by providing the core team with top quality safety equipment, apparel and dry gear.

NRS will continue to provide support for our trip development projects, core team and pro staff.

Z-Man

Z-Man, maker of some of the toughest plastic on the planet and all around artificial tackle solutions ranging from Chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, to limitless plastics, jig heads, and more.

Without hesitation they jumped at the opportunity to support our trip development program.

Matrix Shad

Matrix Shad is a Louisiana company that understands their fishery and demographic. Maker of a variety of plastics, hard baits, corks and more.

Matrix Shad will support our southeastern US trip development projects, core team and pros staff.

Buggs Fishing

Buggs Fishing makes some of the coolest looking fly-fishing style artificial lures for the southeastern inshore fisheries.

Buggs Fishing will support our southeastern US trip development projects, core team and pros staff.

We have been blessed with some long time supporters that understood what Fish Village was trying to accomplish from the get-go. These companies, their employees and families have become an extension of our family.

Pure Watersports of Dana Point / Oceanside

The good people at Pure Watersports have been supporting me personally and my company for the last eight (8) years by providing a home base for our local kayaking adventures, tournaments and guided fishing outings. Tim and Chris are always there to lend a hand, fix our kayaks and even travel + fish with us.

When we told them that we were heading to Louisiana and that we wanted to do a road trip… they offered to let us take their 20+ ft. enclosed trailer so that we can get our kayaks and fishing gear to Louisiana and back safely. Incredible… does your shop support you like that? If they do… hold onto them forever!

Reebs Lures

We have been rep\’n Reebs Lures since the early days of Fish Village. Why?.. well for starters they are rad, they work and we get custom builds. Sooo what is not to like? But the real reason we use them… the people.

The people that make up Reebs Lures are now my brothers and sisters. This company is run by a family that puts nothing but heart and soul into their products. They stand by us, they love us… thus we stand by them and we love them!

Thank you to our new partners and to our trusted ol\’ pals. You make our village what it is.

Trip News

10.25.20 2 weeks until we hit the road + NRS support

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Ummmmm we are two (2) weeks out… I repeat… we are two (2) weeks away from lift-off. Boxes are piling up and the gear keeps coming. We are in full swing preparing for what should be an amazing two (2) week adventure.

We have been getting shit done too…

  • Brake controller for towing handled
  • Buggs Fishing gear arrived and is ready to get bit
  • NRS dry bags arrived for the Fish Village trip development team
  • Canon R5 purchased (DOPE)
  • Canon R L Series 70-200 mm lens purchased (SICK)
  • All Daiwa reels spooled up with Tasline (Thanks Marty!)
  • Enjoyed some Pliny
  • Nearly completed the new trip experience for our website (expect to release this coming week)
  • Finalized first run of our new merch
  • Arranged kayak pickups with the boys from Above the Hook Productions and our teammate Jesse Landry

The good folks at NRS wanted to make sure that Fish Village was outfitted for success. Without hesitation they sent us their best bags from their repertoire for the Fish Village trip development team. Each Fish Village partner will receive the following:

  • NRS Bill\’s Bag Dry Bag 65L
  • NRS Heavy-Duty Bill\’s Bag Dry Bag 110 L
  • NRS High Roll Duffel 35L
  • NRS Tuff Sack 10L
  • NRS Tuff Sack 25L
  • NRS Ether Hydrolock Dry Sack 5L

We are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to work with NRS in a capacity that enables us to do what we love to do. They have been a great partner over the past couple of years and we see them being a big part of just about everything we do moving forward. Thank you NRS for supporting our team and our vision!

More about our partners coming soon! Next week (tomorrow actually), we start receiving our Z-Man orders for the Louisiana crew. Let\’s just say that the crew will be well outfitted.

Be sure to follow along with us via our Louisiana Road Trip 2020 page.

Village Talk

10.24.20 Made the switch to the Plano Edge tackle system

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For the people that know me personally, there is no surprise that I am getting way too excited about organizing my tackle. I pride myself in my organization skills, especially when it comes to tackle and gear. So when I saw the new Plano Edge tackle system… I whipped out the credit card and threw down.

By the way… this is NOT a paid endorsement from Plano Molding, we have no affiliation with them at all. Don\’t mind me… this is just me oversharing how I manage my tackle.

Why did I make the switch from plain ol\’ Plano tackle boxes to this fancy new system:

  • Quality materials used
  • Highly functional and practical
  • No more cutting dividers
  • No more swivels mixed in with your hooks
  • Easy one handed latch
  • Multiple form factors
  • Watertight
  • Oversized options for spinnerbaits and large tackle items
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I haven\’t field tested these yet… that will happen in Louisiana next month. Once they get wet, slimy and banged around a bit… I will report back and let you all know how it went.

To see these in action… follow us on our Louisiana Road Trip next month.

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Company News

10.20.20 Fish Village merch is almost here

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It is almost time to release our first official round of branded gear for our team members and the Fish Village community. Sure it took us awhile… but we are here now and we couldn\’t be more excited.

Joe and I have had a lot of fun working with Rex of FishFrsh & ActionHat. It turns out… when you have a professional steering you along the way… there are a lot of things to consider when putting your logo on things. He has taught us that we enjoy arts and crafts… because that is what it took to land on some decisions to send some designs to print.

We wanted to start simple and create some designs that speak to our brand. From there we will explore more designs that speak to our personality.

We had to have camo… we just had to. When Rex sent this to us… I instantly connected with it. The simplicity is what I really like. I am a big fan of our logo (sort of attached) and the team loves camo… soooo this was a win from the moment we saw it.

This is just the beginning.

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Trip News

10.18.20 3 weeks until we hit the road

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It feels like we are leaving next week… but thank goodness we have three more weeks because shit is getting crazy. I mean don\’t get us wrong, we want to hurry up and leave already, but we still have some logistics to work through.

We have gear bags, tackle, tackle storage, more tackle, camera gear, hat samples, memory cards, Pliny (damn straight) and a few other things arriving this week. The UPS, USPS, DHL and FedEx are all making a stop at FV HQ at least once this week… if not multiple times.

We have been assembling tackle packages for the Louisiana crew with gear from Z-Man, Matrix Shad and Buggs Fishing. It will be an all artificial fishing battle for Louisiana reds for this team.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been immersing myself into the various ways people catch redfish and other southeast inshore species. Every time I learn about how to fish for a new species I have to accept the fact that I am going to be lost initially. But with the help of my friends who just happen to be seasoned professionals… I am at least starting to understand how we are going to target redfish. I find it very interesting that redfish fall for some of the same fishing tactics as freshwater bass, I would have never guessed, then again I know next to nothing about largemouth bass either.

Crafted Fishing Rods and Above the Hook Productions released a sexy video on YouTube showcasing the giveaway built. It is freaking rad. To make it easy… we have it right here (see below). To enter to win… be sure to tag three friends on either Facebook or Instagram and then head over to our Louisiana Road Trip 2020 page to enter to win.

Trip News

10.15.20 Another one… Brian Nelli joins the Louisiana team

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We wanted to assemble a crazy good team for this content, media, trip development blitz that we are about to go on next month. We wanted some newbie\’s to the marsh/redfish scene and we wanted some pros that can help us catch some fish… our poor guide can\’t help fifteen (15) people at once now can he… or can he?

Having the likes of someone like Brian Nelli… dude that slays fish anywhere in any kind of water makes us a stronger team. We will have local perspective + perspective from professionals that have fished for redfish/various inshore species in other waters such as Mississippi, Florida and North Carolina. I can\’t think of a better way to learn but with a group of professionals with various backgrounds. This is going to be overwhelmingly and outrageously fun!

The team keeps getting stronger with each addition and we ain\’t done yet!

Brian Nelli background: Owner, head guide of Pushin\’ Water Kayak Charters in south Florida. He is an accomplished kayak tournament angler within the United States and abroad. He is also a partner in our trip development program with new trips being offered on FishVillage.com in 2021.

Company News

10.14.20 How do you Fish Village?

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Weird question right? How does one Fish Village?

How many of you have been to Austin, Texas? I wish I could say that I was one of them… but what I do know is that they have a cool motto. They like to say… \’Keep Austin Weird,\’ which tells you a little bit about the place the moment you read that motto. Then as you experience Austin you start to understand and live it.

Well that same concept applies to Fish Village. Our community likes to get down differently than others. We fly across the globe to fish for Black marlin on a kayak in sharky waters and we yoke on massive pelagic fish in a tiny plastic boat. We scrounge every penny we have to go on epic adventures only to come back sore, tired and questioning why we did it. Then the ridiculous memories you form while kayak fishing smack you on the back of the head reminding of why we do this.

So… how does one Fish Village?

  • You live life with your heart,
  • You care about each other unconditionally,
  • You absolutely rip each other when you fish, no holding back kind of jokes,
  • You clog the radio waves with hilarious chatter and get yelled at by the U.S. Coast Guard,
  • You might curse like a sailor,
  • 8% IPAs sound good to you at 5:30 AM (safely of course),
  • Just about anyone in your clan would say \”f*** it, let\’s do it!\”
  • You say \”you are a worthless angler\” and \”congrats on a nice catch\” in the same sentence,
  • You love your active duty military and veterans,
  • At a drop of a hat, you are there for your community,
  • Bourbon… it is a must,
  • You lie and tell your buddy that you will get him shrimp, but buy him cooked shrimp instead,
  • You clog the toilet and lie about it,
  • You absolutely laugh at farts,
  • You have terrible tan lines,
  • You never poach, but ninja fishing is cool,
  • You rather skunk than not fish,
  • You lie to your significant other about how much you actually spend on fishing gear,
  • You like good eats, good peeps and good fishing!

If any of this sounds like you… you might know how to Fish Village already and maybe you can teach us a thing or two. If we sound like your kind of people then you might want to keep up with our shenanigan\’s when we take off for Louisiana next month. To keep up, click here.

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I am sure the fish love cooked shrimp… well played Charlie!
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Joe had to adjust the camera to make this work… soooooo white!

Trip News

10.13.20 B.T.T. Louisiana Trip Planning Pt. 2

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If you were to ask me what is at the center of this Louisiana effort, I would say that we are trying to put our best foot forward in our own backyard and connect people from all over the United States to incredible fishing adventures. This means more to us now than ever. Let\’s re-connect with the great fisheries America has to offer.

COVID has been a curse to many, very few have positive things to say about it. With all of that negative comes a few positives. We saw an opportunity to take our trip development program and rapidly build out new domestic locations with everything we have learned over the last few years.

This trip is the culmination of our \”pivot\”… yeah just like Ross said in Friends. This is setting us up for a very interesting 2021 which could see multiple new location and trip offerings.

The Fish Village way dictates that we live the experience. So that is what we are going to f\’n do! We are going to live up the opportunity as if it were our last trip. This means we are going to cram in as much as possible on the road trip, visit as many great people and operations as we can, fish as much as humanly possible and EAT!

We have some incredible partners getting behind this Louisiana program… NRS, Z-Man, BerleyPro, Tasline, Matrix Shad, Buggs Fishing and ActionHat have signed up to make sure that we can provide the best gear for our locations… what a team! This is just the beginning.

To keep up with our Louisiana Road Trip 2020… click here.

Thank you for your continued love and support.

Photo: We want the redfish equivalent in Louisiana… look at Brooks\’ stud snapper, from his recent trip to New Zealand.

Trip News

10.12.20 Brooks Beatty + Louisiana Nov 2020 \”Another one!\”

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Another one… queue DJ Khaled.

Brooks Beatty was such a hit in New Zealand that we just had to have him onboard for our next go around. He is a talented videographer, editor, angler that instantly connected with our crew. His skillset coupled with his knowledge of the Louisiana fishery made this a no brainer. He will be supporting Robert Field, host of Field Trips YouTube series to capture our adventure in Venice Louisiana.

We really like Brooks and expect him to be on future expeditions assuming our schedules continue to align. He is a perfect match for our team and he does something we are all not good at… fly fishing. This is a segment of the fishing industry that we want to explore more of… we see some opportunity for us to create some incredible fishing adventures much like we do for the kayak fishing community. But before we do, we want to create MORE incredible kayak fishing and small boat fishing adventures for you with Brooks in the mix.

If you didn\’t have enough reason to follow us along our journey, you do now! Remember that we will be blogging the entire trip, you can keep up with the Fish Village crew by following us on social media and on our Louisiana Road Trip 2020 dedicated page.

If you haven\’t seen any of his handy work, check out the incredible work he did for NRS with the A Resilient Paradise series. Here is a Facebook link to his latest short film shot in PAC Kayak Rental in where else… Louisiana.

Below is his first installation in the A Resilient Paradise series focusing on the Bahamas. With a backdrop like that, people will keep coming! Take a moment to watch the series to support our friends at NRS and the work that Brooks did.

Trip News

10.11.20 4 weeks till the Louisiana road trip begins

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We enjoy our road trips… mainly because we find excuses to mess with each other. I found this clip the other day from our road trip to Cambria for the Central Coast Slam Down in 2018. Joe was a bit sleepy and Tommy and I just couldn\’t stop ourselves from scaring the shit out of Joe. If you missed our Facebook post… check it out.

It is hard to believe that we are only four (4) weeks away from kicking this party off. Thank goodness we have been planning for months otherwise this is the part where I would start freaking out.

In other news… Brian @ Crafted Fishing Rods has been giving us sneak peeks at the Louisiana giveaway rod and we freaking love it! Someone is going to score one hell of a unique setup. If you haven\’t already done so… enter to win the rod.